Corropolese Bakery and Deli opening in Lansdale

LANSDALE — It appears that anticipation for the new Corropolese Bakery and Deli in the Pavilion Shopping Center (541 S. Broad Street) in Lansdale is reaching a fever pitch.

“People have been calling like crazy, or going into the other stores going, ‘When are you opening? When are you opening?’” laughed Gerry Fitzgerald, owner and manager of the new Corropolese location, which will join three others in the iconic local chain that got its start as a Norristown bakery back in 1924.

“It’s pretty great that people are excited,” Fitzgerald said on Wednesday. He’s aiming to have his store open by Wednesday, Jan. 30 at latest, and hopefully before. “We’re just waiting on the walk-in cooler, and once that’s in, we’re ready to go.”

Right there on the front of Corropolese’s menu, it proudly states, “Famous for our tomato pie!” And that’s no joke — Philadelphia magazine named the pie “Best of Philly 2011,” and it also earned “Best of Montco 2012” honors in the Times Herald’s 2012 Readers Choice Awards. They’ve also gotten props from 93.3 FM WMMR’s popular Preston & Steve morning show.

“People come out here from the city, from all over, for the tomato pies,” said Fitzgerald. “I guess it’s the sauce. Everybody has their different take on it, but ours is more of a consistent smooth sauce, while some are chunkier. It all comes down to personal preference. Fortunately, most people prefer ours,” he laughed.

Just like the other Corropolese locations in Norristown, Limerick and Douglasville, the Lansdale location will be about a lot more than tomato pie, though. There’ll be a full-service deli counter with an extensive line of Boar’s Head premium products; a large bread counter with a wide variety of loaves and rolls baked fresh daily, seven days a week, at the chain’s central bakery in West Norriton; a refrigerated and frozen section with milk, eggs, butter, cheese, pasta, bags of pizza dough, frozen meatballs and sausage, cole slaw and other prepared salads, pickled peppers, and more; shelves lined with Cento jarred and canned products; plus hot stations with rotisserie chickens, strombolis, sliced roast beef and roast pork.

“We do great hoagies, hoagie trays, and 3-foot and 6-foot hoagies on special order — we can bake 6-foot rolls in the huge ovens at the 20,000-square-foot bakery in West Norriton,” said Fitzgerald. “We also built a pastry department there, so we can do sheet cakes, picture cakes, cupcakes, cookies, pies, pretty much anything you’d want pastry-wise.”

Fitzgerald, 43, grew up in Plymouth Township and started working at the Corropolese in Norristown in 1984 — the same year Corropolese added a deli to its bakery operation — when he was a sophomore in high school, cutting lunchmeat after school. It was Fitzgerald’s first job, and he’s been with them ever since, except for a 6-year stretch from 2002 to 2008 when he managed a grocery store in Florida.

“I moved back because we had kids, and my parents are still in the area, and I had an interview for a store manager position at Genuardi’s and I called Joe (Corropolese) for a reference and he was like, ‘Why don’t you come back and work for me?’ said Fitzgerald. He managed the stores in Norristown and Limerick, and then, in 2011, he approached Joe Corropolese about opening a location on his own.

“He was fine with it,” said Fitzgerald. “We researched areas together, and we like the Lansdale area a lot. Lansdale felt like the perfect family-type fit for us.”

Fitzgerald’s store is taking over the 2,800-square-foot retail space vacated last summer by the Pedaller Bike Shop, which moved to 801 W. Main Street in Lansdale. “We had to do everything — all the plumbing, an ADA-compliant bathroom, we refinished all the floors, tiled the prep areas, did all the refrigeration, did the drop ceilings,” said Fitzgerald, while construction workers milled around on Wednesday, finishing up the interior. He’s also got a full basement, which he plans to use for dry storage to free up floor space upstairs; he might also put a few tables and chairs downstairs for an eat-in area, but that’s still to be determined.

But Fitzgerald’s got a lot of time to mull that decision over — he’s got a 10-year lease, with two 5-year options after that. “We’ll be here for 20 years at least, I foresee,” he said.

He said the store’s starting out with between 20 and 25 employees, and Fitzgerald plans to be a hands-on owner/manager. “I’m not an office person, I’d rather be behind the counter waiting on people,” he laughed.

“Corropolese is something I got involved with when I was young, and fortunately it turned out to be a quality company and I was proud to work for them,” said Fitzgerald. “You know, you’d go out and people would run into you and be like, ‘Oh, you work at Corropolese!’ I don’t think I’d be able to work somewhere if it wasn’t something I could stand behind and be proud of. We have a great reputation, and we’re gonna strive to go the extra mile here and be friendly and treat people right.”

Once it opens, Corropolese Bakery and Deli in Lansdale will be open Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call them at (267) 436-3192.